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TSR's 2025 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): #23 Tulane Green Wave
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
In the summer of 2021, Tulane hired Adrian Myers as the Green Wave's newest Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. The position was well earned by Myers who had just led the Northern Illinois women to their first Mid-American Conference (MAC) cross country team title in program history.
In the years following, Tulane has slowly, but surely, built up their distance roster. By aggressively recruiting from the transfer portal and finding star-caliber names from overseas, the Green Wave men have inched closer and closer to national relevance with each passing year.
In the fall of 2024, Tulane had a monumental season, qualifying for the NCAA XC Championships as a team for the first time in 25 years.
Now, in 2025, the Green Wave men wont be considered underdogs. Armed with the most balanced and most talented roster in the Adrian Myers era, the Tulane men are poised to be a major problem for their competition later this year.
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Tulane's first cross country meet of any significance last fall came at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational. There, the Green Wave would battle with strong distance squads such as Alabama, Butler and Wisconsin, as well as a handful of other teams that were on the fringe of national qualification.
Through the first-half of Tulane's scoring group, things were looking good. Bernard Cheruiyot (5th) validated preseason suspicions that he could be a true low-stick while teammate Jack Jennings (12th) emerged as a solid secondary low-stick in his own right. With teammate Illia Kunin snagging 23rd place, the Green Wave men looked like they were going to compete for a top-three team finish.
That, however, did not happen.
Instead, the final two Tulane scorers faded to 78th place and 83rd place, opening up a major scoring gap in the process. And when the scores were tallied, the Green Wave men had to settle for a disappointing 8th place finish.
Despite the unexciting final result, there were still reasons to be optimistic about Tulane's 2024 cross country season. Would the Green Wave men fare any better in a much larger field such as Pre-Nationals?
At that meet, Jennings (41st) and Cheruiyot (49th) held their own. While they didn't necessarily look like All-American threats, they still offered strong value at the top of their lineup. We also saw Illia Kunin (98th) pull through to offer crucial scoring stability yet again.
Thankfully for Tulane, Wondu Summa (128th) put together a half-decent result. That performance was noticeably better than what he had produced at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational. However, depth continued to be a challenge for the Green Wave men as the team's final scorer faded to 199th place.
In turn, Tulane finished 20th overall (out of 32 teams) at Pre-Nationals. In that race, they would finish just one spot and 11 points out from conference rival, Tulsa.
Thankfully for the Green Wave, they wouldn't have to wait long to get their revenge: The American Athletic Conference XC Championships was the next meet on their schedule. And in a field that was dominated by Tulane and Tulsa, it was the former who came out on top...but only barely.
Seeing Cheruiyot, Jennings, Kunin and Summa go 1-2-5-7, respectively, was huge for Tulane. That quartet of scorers was enough to overwhelm Tulsa through four runners. The issue, however, is that depth was Tulsa's strong suit -- and depth was Tulane's fatal flaw, something evidenced by their final scorer placing 18th overall.
In the end, Tulane and Tulsa actually tied for the conference title, although it was the Green Wave who came out on top with the tie-breaking win.
Thankfully for Tulane, their postseason magic didn't end there as they next ventured to the South Central Regional XC Championships. And historically speaking, that is the NCAA's weakest cross country region...by a large margin. That, paired with the fact that the Texas men were having a "down" year, led to the Tulane men snagging 2nd place overall.
In short, the Green Waver were going to the NCAA XC Championships for the first time in 25 years.
That, however, is where Tulane's feel-good story ends. On the national stage, Cheruiyot (85th) and Jennings (113th) weren't quite as potent as we thought they could be. Meanwhile, Kunin (161st) failed to offer much scoring stability. And with no other Green Wave runners finishing any better than 220th place, the Tulane men were simply no match for an overwhelming field.
Tulane's season concluded with a 28th place finish in Madison, Wisconsin.
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As we look ahead to the 2025 cross country season, it's admittedly hard not to be high on Tulane. The Green Wave men have been steadily on the rise for the last few years and 2024 was the first time that we've seen them produce meaningful results on the grass.
They do, however, lose a crucial runner from last year's team in Jack Jennings.
The now-former Tulane veteran, who often acted as a fringe low-stick throughout his career, has expired his cross country eligibility and is not expected to return in 2025. For most mid-majors, that kind of runner would be incredibly challenging to replace in a single offseason.
Not only that, but Wondu Summa is also out of eligibility. Despite his poor performance at the national meet, Summa evolved into a fairly solid fourth scorer last fall. Sure, he was far from perfect, but he closed down on the gap between himself and Kunin that we initially saw at the Loyola Lakefront Invite.
Losing Jennings, Summa and a few other backend veterans would typically leave a mid-major program like Tulane in a challenging spot for this fall. Not only did they lose a fringe low-stick, but they also lost scoring stability from a lineup that massively struggled with that last fall.
However, since last fall, Coach Adrian Myers has added a handful of sneaky-good newcomers to his men's distance roster. And on paper, the overall talent of this team in 2025 will almost certainly be better than what we saw from this group in 2024.
Bernard Cheruiyot will return this fall as the team's top projected low-stick. Yes, it's true, the Tulane ace "only" finished 85th at the national meet last fall, but we're confident that he can be better.
Remember, this is a guy who qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10k this past spring. He also placed 5th at the Loyola Lakefront Invite last fall, is the defending AAC cross country champion and is currently ranked at TSR #49 in our preseason individual rankings.
However, for as high as we are on Cheruiyot, there's a chance that he may not even be this team's top scorer come November. That's because Tulane has also added Silas Kiptanui to their roster -- and his first season with the Green Wave was very, very impressive.
The newest Tulane runner was fantastic this past spring. Not only did Kiptanui clock a monster steeplechase time of 8:25, but he produced that mark at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (placing 9th in the finals). Tack on a 13:49 (5k) PR and you get someone who holds enough raw talent to be a lead scorer this fall.
If Kiptanui offers low-stick firepower, then that would be huge for a Tulane program that is simply trying to replace Jack Jennings. But even if Kiptanui isn't a low-stick, then he can still offer better middle-lineup stability than what this team had last fall.
Then there is Rogerio Amaral, a transfer from South Carolina.
The incoming graduate student made tons of progress with the Gamecocks over the last year or two. The Portuguese distance standout has run times of 3:56 (mile), 7:58 (3k), 13:49 (5k) and 28:23 (10k). That latter mark was produced this past spring, leaving us encouraged about what Amaral could do on the grass over the next few months.
The issue, however, is that Amaral has never competed in cross country, at least not at the NCAA level. That's because South Carolina doesn't sponsor men's cross country. Naturally, we have questions as to how Amaral will fare on the grass. Is his recent 10k success something that we can expect to translate to cross country? What will his ceiling be? How much will he raise the floor for a team that had gaudy scoring drop-offs last fall?
We don't have the answers to those questions, but it's tough to imagine a scenario where Amaral doesn't make Tulane noticeably better compared to last year.
We then come to Illia Kunin, someone who may be the most underrated member of this team. Without him and his scoring stability, Tulane almost certainly would not have qualified for the national meet last fall.
Despite being listed as a senior in last year's TFRRS results, Tulane's coaching staff is expecting him to return this season. And in 2025, Kunin could be closer to a lead scorer than a crucial supporting piece. That's because the Ukrainian distance standout clocked excellent times of 7:52 (3k) and 13:37 (5k) this past winter.
In a best case scenario, Kunin can be a fringe low-stick for Tulane, giving this team far more firepower than we initially thought they would have. But even if he doesn't reach that point in 2025, then Kunin can still be one of the best middle-lineup scorers in the country (relative to team success).
The Green Wave veteran has made a clear jump in his fitness and this time, he actually has national meet experience that he can lean on.
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Through four runners, you can see why we're so high on Tulane. Despite the inconsistencies and lingering questions, the Green Wave men have four runners who could realistically be lead scorers for them in 2025.
That, however, wasn't necessarily the issue for this team in 2024. Instead, it was the team's severely lacking depth that limited their upside on larger stages. But...is that something that could be fixed this fall?
Tulane was also able to add Gilbert Rono from Texas A&M to their cross country roster. Some people may know Rono as the metric miler who ran 3:37 (1500) at the African Games. However, when it comes to cross country, his more important result is a 17th place finish at the 2024 South Central Regional XC Championships.
Rono doesn't need to be a star on the grass this fall to be an effective contributor for Tulane. If he can simply contribute greater scoring stability, then the Green Wave will likely flourish no matter the field that they are in.
That, of course, is easier said than done. While Rono did have a solid outing at the South Central regional meet last year his other performances from last fall -- 34th at the Arturo Barrios Invite and 150th at the Nuttycombe Invite -- aren't dramatically better than what Tulane already had last fall.
And yet, that may not matter. That's because Tulane has also added Cooper Sorenson, Thomas Rice and Zach Van Houten from the transfer portal. They also return a key name in Paul James Pam.
Sure, those men haven't produced any jaw-dropping results as of late, but they don't necessarily need to, either. Cooper Sorenson, for instance, is a D2 transfer from Ferris State who has run 14:19 for 5000 meters. Thomas Rice, a former Tennessee runner, has posted a time of 14:09 for 5000 meters while racing unattached.
Paul James Pam, meanwhile, is a Nigerian distance runner who posted a time of 14:16 over 5000 meters (indoors) back in 2024...as a 16-year old college freshman. He was injured last fall, but should be healthy for this season. As for Zach Van Houten, he secured a promising 30th place finish at the 2023 Northeast Regional XC Championships during his time with Hofstra.
Unlike last year, this collection of backend contributors gives Coach Adrian Myers multiple options for his 2025 cross country lineup rather than just one or two. With those men, Tulane can (potentially) remain competitive if one of their scorers has an "off" day.
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If you were kind enough to read everything discussed above, then you may be thinking, "Huh, this team seems pretty good. Why are they not ranked higher?"
And that would be a fair question! After all, this projected lineup has four men who could be lead scorers and depth that, on paper, is better than what the Tulane men had last year.
But at the same time, the Green Wave men are far from perfect. Cheruiyot has lacked consistency, we've never seen Kiptanui or Amaral race on the grass before, Kunin's track success may not translate to cross country and the team's scoring reinforcements still have A LOT to prove.
We'll admit, that's a lot of uncertainty to have about a team that is ranked in our preseason top-25.
Even so, the positives far outweigh the negatives for Tulane. The Green Wave are seemingly primed to take that next step in their roster development. Simply qualifying for the NCAA XC Championships will no longer suffice as a successful season.
That, of course, is a sign of brilliant development and recruiting.
